Overview of the Ofsted Report

At Perpetual Fostering, we’re delighted to have some fantastic news to share with everyone! Ofsted’s inspection report – carried out at the end of October 2014 – of our services provision has been published, and is now available for members of the public to view on their website.

In this report, under every single aspect of the care services delivered by us, we were rated as “Good”, which is a fantastic reflection of how we have continually strived to improve. A detailed break down of the assessment is as follows:

Overall Effectiveness rating: Good
We’re immensely proud to be recognised as an agency “that strives to improve the outcomes of children and young people across all aspects of their development”. It also outlines our core commitment to high quality care, “built upon stable and successful placements, where unplanned endings are minimal”.

Experiences and progress of children and young people: Good
Here Ofsted have recognised that children in stable placements feel very much a part of their family. They’re also aided in adjusting to their placements, having access to trained clinical therapists.

Not only this, but these young people feel safe in their placements and are learning to trust their foster carers, developing secure attachments in the process. They also highlight that educational monitoring has become a key focus of the agency, which reinforces our commitment to giving these children their best possible chance in life.

Quality of Service: Good
The inspectors also recognised our dedicated ongoing support for our carers:

our supervising social workers ring carers regularly

foster carers are closely involved in the placement planning process

the vast majority of carers achieve all required training standards within one year of approval

The last point in particular reaffirms our conscientious approach to all aspects of the care we provide, given our “robust approach to recruitment and assessment of foster carers”.

Safeguarding children and young people: Good
We’re also happy to see that our emphasis on protecting children is acknowledged: “children and young people are part of the family and confirm that they feel safe and protected in their homes and in the wider community”. Just as importantly, it has been recognised that our foster children don’t struggle against bullying or intimidation.

Leadership and management: Good
Our current Registered Manager is highlighted by the report as having “brought stability and improvement to the agency”. Alongside the Team Manager, the improved leadership and accountability demonstrated by the agency have enabled staff to fully understand their roles all the more. Extensive experience and deep knowledge of foster care provision – above all on the part of our senior management – have also massively aided improvement of the agency’s operations.

To see these points acknowledged by Ofsted – especially our sustained improvement – is a huge boost for us as an independent fostering agency. If you’d like to read the findings of Ofsted for yourself, you can find the report in full here.